Omnipresence and the Location of the Immaterial

In Jonathan Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, Volume 7. Oxford University Press (2017)
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Abstract

I first offer a broad taxonomy of models of divine omnipresence in the Christian tradition, both past and present. I then examine the recent model proposed by Hud Hudson (2009, 2014) and Alexander Pruss (2013)—ubiquitous entension—and flag a worry with their account that stems from predominant analyses of the concept of ‘material object’. I then attempt to show that ubiquitous entension has a rich Latin medieval precedent in the work of Augusine and Anselm. I argue that the model of omnipresence explicated by Augustine and Anselm has the resources to avoid the noted worry by offering an alternative account of the divide between the immaterial and the material. I conclude by considering a few alternative analyses of ‘material object’ that make conceptual room for a contemporary Christian theist to follow suite in thinking that at least some immaterial entities are literally spatially located when relating to the denizens of spacetime.

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Ross Inman
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Citations of this work

Location and Mereology.Cody Gilmore - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Against Mereological Panentheism.Oliver D. Crisp - 2019 - European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 11 (2):23-41.
God’s place in the world.Matthew James Collier - 2020 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 89 (1):43-65.

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References found in this work

Essence and modality.Kit Fine - 1994 - Philosophical Perspectives 8 (Logic and Language):1-16.
Powers: A Study in Metaphysics.George Molnar - 2003 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Stephen Mumford.
Material Beings.Peter Van Inwagen - 1990 - Philosophy 67 (259):126-127.

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